Alan Cadiz here. If you have not already heard, windsurfing instruction is under fire on Maui.

We need your help. First some history:

Twenty three years ago while windsurfing at Kanaha a fellow windsurfer asked me to help them with their sailing. Being a skilled windsurfer, and having a natural desire to help others, I started teaching advanced windsurfing to Maui residents and visitors. With the highest standards and integrity my new business was run ‘by the book’ - business license, insurances, taxes, etc. as well as permission from parks director at the time, Marilyn Moniz. There was no permit process, but she gave me her blessing, “Just remain low key.”

About 1995 the county adopted laws to permit and regulate Maui’s growing water sports businesses. Sanctioned by the county, I felt proud to provide jobs and a service that was both wanted and needed.

By 2003, County Council drafted a new law to govern park use. The stated purpose of that ordinance is “….to fairly and effectively regulate Commercial Ocean Recreation Activities [CORA] to ensure that County beach parks and other County property are utilized for the community’s maximum recreational, environmental, and economic benefit.” It also gave full discretion and authority to the Parks Director to implement Administrative Rules. And allocated
$175,000 of taxpayer money for a professional study of beach parks and the impact of CORA on the parks.

The study was supposed to be the basis for rule making by the parks department. Parks department officials told us, “When the study was done we as a group would work with the parks to develop the rules.” It has not worked that way. Instead, our input has been ignored and in some cases used against us, and often resulted in rules contradictory to the recommendations of the CORA study. Some of the rules are baseless, unjustifiable, over burdensome, and clearly designed to eliminate most, if not all, permits for lessons and guiding in and on County property.

Rules that will most impact windsurfing instruction at Kanaha are: No more than 2 instructors teaching at the same time, per operator. No more that four students per instructor, limited days, limited hours, limited parking, limited beach access. These cuts will force us to turn away many first time windsurfers as well as returning friends leaving them on their own through the learning process.

The big mistake is that the capacity rules apply to big and small parks in the same way. While they may be appropriate to a small south side park with limited parking and coast line, Kanaha is not subject to the same limitations nor does it have a history of user conflict.

As a business owner I have never taken for granted that it is a privilege, not a right, to access the water through the park. I have always respected other users, being careful not to encroach on their activity and have come to the aid of anyone that needed rescue in the water or shoreline. I would like to believe that I have provided a welcome and valuable addition to the Kanaha community for the last 23 years. I’ve tried to live by the intent and letter of the law. I seek to provide quality lessons at a reasonable cost for all of my community.

If you, or your family, friends or Maui visitors, want to have windsurfing, kitesurfing, surfing, scuba or kayak instruction, now or in the future, please email our parks director and mayor now.

Please tell our parks director and mayor that you want watersports instruction available at Kanaha as it currently exists and the administrative rules are unjustifiable. All you really have to say is something indicating that Kanaha is a better place because of the opportunity for lessons and guidance and that these services are valued and necessary for safety and education. And these cuts will diminish our ability to provide these services.

The mission statement of the Maui County Department of Parks and Recreation is:
“To provide high-quality, cost-effective recreational experiences for the residents and visitors of Maui County.”

Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 1:56 pm Post subject: To the Director of Parks and the Mayor of Maui County.

To the Director of Parks and the Mayor of Maui County.

I am writing to express my extreme concern regarding MC10-102.

I have spent the last 15 years involved in watersports instruction. I am a Royal Yachting Association (RYA) yachtmaster and windsurfing instructor and an IKO kiteboarding instructor. I have been a beach life guard and surf instructor in Southern Ireland , the Hebridean island of Tiree, and the West Wales Gower peninsula in the UK. I am also a qualified PADI open ocean diver. I have ocean-going yachting experience and am currently a helmsman for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) in the UK.
I have had the benefit of enjoying watersports in the Caribbean, the Indian ocean and most notably off the world renowned shores of Maui.
The instruction that was available when I was last on Maui in 2004 led the rest of the world at all levels. The standard of instruction, the standard of instructors and the high level of beach and ocean safety was an example and inspiration to us in Europe and the rest of the world, where fatalities as a result of poor practice, was an unfortunately common occurrence.
As an experienced instructor in a wide range of ocean activities and helmsman for the RNLI, I am deeply disturbed at the proposed legislation in Maui County. It is imperative that the number of CORA permits is increased to the level of 3 years ago. Schools and instructors need reinstating to ensure correct instructor/pupil ratio thereby facilitating that the most expeditious safety regulations are adhered to. Additionally, retaining the necessary requirement of venue options to suit the prevailing weather conditions of the day is equally important.
I am convinced that should MC10-102 be approved and these cuts continue, the litigation suits that Maui County will face as a result of this misguided legislation will adversely affect all aspects of tourism to the County and it's reputation as the global leader of excellence in the field of ocean recreation.

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